WOMEN'S SEMIFINALS SCORES
#1 SIUE 4, #4 Eastern Illinois 2
#3 Eastern Kentucky 4, #2 UT Martin 3
MEN'S SEMIFINAL SCORES
#1 Tennessee Tech 4, #4 Belmont 1
#2 Eastern Kentucky 4, #3 Jacksonville State 4
WOMEN'S RECAPS
SIUE 3, EASTERN ILLINOIS 2
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - SIUE women's tennis made it one step closer to repeating as Ohio Valley Conference champions Saturday with a 4-2 win over Eastern Illinois at the Centennial Sportsplex.
The Cougars improved to 20-0 for the season, breaking the program's record for wins since making the jump the Division I.
SIUE, which won Saturday's match that was forced indoors because of rain in Nashville, next will play the winner of second-seeded UT Martin and third-seeded Eastern Kentucky. Sunday's championship match is set for 10 a.m.
Freshman Callaghan Adams providing the clinching point against Eastern Illinois with a come-from-behind 0-6, 6-2, 6-2 triumph over Maria Moshteva at No. 5 singles.
SIUE also collected singles wins from first team All-OVC selections Lexi Aranda and Mia Frogner.
Frogner was the first to clinch a singles point with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Grace Summers at No. 2 singles. Aranda added a key point with a 6-3, 7-5 victory over Kelly Iden at No. 1 singles.
EIU, which ended its season with a 14-9 dual match record, recorded wins at No. 3 and 4 singles.
SIUE won the doubles point early. Adams and Lara Tupper defeated Emily Pugachevsky and Srishti Slaria 6-3 at No. 3 doubles. Aranda and Morgan Steffes edged Summers and Kami Stadalnikaite 7-6 (8-6) at No. 2 doubles.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 4, UT MARTIN 3
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Eastern Kentucky University, the No. 3 seed, upset No. 2 seed University of Tennessee at Martin, 4-3, in the Ohio Valley Conference Women’s Tennis Tournament semifinals on Saturday and will face undefeated Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in the title match on Sunday in Nashville.
The Colonels (12-10) lost to SIU Edwardsville on the road by a 4-3 score in March. The Cougars are 20-0 overall this season. Sunday’s championship match will begin at 11 a.m. ET at the Centennial Sportsplex.
Just as it did on Friday in the first round, EKU lost the doubles point and fell behind early.
UT Martin (12-5) went up 2-0 after a win at No. 1 to get singles play started. The Colonels’ comeback bid started at No. 4 and No. 3 singles.
Sagung Putri Dwinta got Eastern on the board when her opponent was forced to retire at No. 4 singles. Burcu Tari won the first set 6-3 and was in up 5-3 with match point in the second set before having issues with muscle cramps for the second time in the match.
Laura Argente tied the match, 2-2, with a three set victory at No. 3 singles over first team All-OVC performer Asel Jumamukhambetova. After winning the first set, 6-1, Argente fell in the second 6-3. She took the match with a 6-2 victory in the third set.
The Skyhawks closed to within a point of winning the match when Hitomi Naito won a three-set match over EKU’s Viktorija Demcenkova.
Margaux Lacroix tied the score again when she earned a 6-4 and 7-5 win at No. 5 singles. Marina Marti scored the decisive fourth point when she closed out the match with a 7-5 and 6-4 win over Jemima Potter at No. 6 singles.
MEN'S RECAPS
TENNESSEE TECH 4, BELMONT 1
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The top-seeded Tennessee Tech tennis team rallied during singles play, fighting back from an early doubles setback for a 4-1 win over Belmont in the OVC Tournament semifinals. With the win, the Golden Eagles stamp their ticket to Sunday's championship match at the Centennial Sportsplex, the second-straight appearance for Tech following last year's 4-3 win against Eastern Kentucky for the program's seventh tournament title. TTU will await the winner of the evening's second semifinal between No. 2 Eastern Kentucky and No. 3 Jacksonville State.
Tech (12-6) found itself in a rare deficit early in the semifinals clash, as the Golden Eagles dropped the doubles point for the first time in over a month to fall behind 1-0. In fact, TTU had captured the doubles point in all six OVC matches this season, but the Bruins (10-14) bested Tech in two of the three tandem matchups.
Stephen Goldman and Zak Kahn took down Alberto Esteban and Guillermo Nicolas, 6-3, out of the No. 2 spot, while Bruno Russo and Vincent Sterkens knocked off Marc Mila and Jorge Alfonzo, 6-2, in the No. 3 slot. The No. 1 battle pitting Belmont's Cedric Dujacquier and Hendrik Inno against Tech's Eduardo Mena and Marcos Bernardes did not finish with the score deadlocked at 5-5.
Despite the precarious position, the Golden Eagles flexed their muscles during singles play, seizing all four affairs that finished. Two-time OVC Player of the Year, No. 60 Eduardo Mena breezed in his No. 1 matchup with Josiah Collins, securing the top tilt in straight sets with a 6-3, 6-2 victory.
The other three completed battles possessed a little more drama, but in the end, a trio of Golden Eagles soared to three-set nods to officially clinch the match. Junior Marcos Bernardes toppled Hendrik Inno, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, out of the No. 2 spot, while senior Alberto Esteban edged Vincent Sterkens, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in the No. 3 slot and sophomore Guillermo Nicolas slipped past Zak Khan, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 out of the No. 4 position.
With the match in hand, the final two singles tilts went unfinished, however the Golden Eagles led in each of them. Jorge Alfonzo won the first set, 6-3, and was on top 1-0 in the second against Stephen Goldman in the No. 5 spot, while Marc Mila was up 5-2 in the first set against Bruno Russo in the No. 6 slot.
The Golden Eagles will be searching for their eighth OVC Tournament title and second in a row Sunday afternoon. The championship is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. CT.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 4, JACKSONVILLE STATE 3
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Eastern Kentucky University’s men’s tennis team advance to the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament finals after battling late into the night to secure a 4-3 win over Jacksonville State University at the Centennial Sportsplex in Nashville.
The Colonels will face Tennessee Tech (12-6) in the championship match on Sunday at 3 p.m. ET. The Golden Eagles went 6-0 in the league during the regular season.
Saturday’s semifinal match didn’t end until 2:50 a.m. ET Sunday morning.
Parth Aggarwal won an epic three-set match at No. 4 singles to secure the victory for the Colonels. He won the first set 6-4. He had two match points, serving with a 5-4 lead, before dropping the second to Paolo Cucalon 7-6 (7-5). Down 6-5 in the third set, Aggarwal fought off three match points by Cucalon to force a tie-break set. Despite suffering muscle cramps, he won the tiebreaker set 7-2 to send EKU to the finals.
EKU (16-9), the No. 2 seed, lost the doubles point to the third seeded Gamecocks (12-9) to begin the match.
The Colonels tied the match at 1-1 with Ramon van Flymen’s straight set victory at No. 1 singles, and tied it again, 2-2, when Sebastian Mueller picked up a 7-6 and 6-2 win at No. 2 singles. Eastern tied it for a third time, 3-3, with a 6-3 and 6-3 victory by Diego Asis at No. 6 singles.